NASAL CARRIAGE OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS - PREVALENCE IN A DIALYSIS CENTER AND INFLUENCE ON BACTEREMIA

We evaluated nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in 11 4 hemodialysis patients by performing two nasal swab cultures at a one month interval. The incidence of bacteremia was then followed for one year. Other factors associated with infections in hemodialysis patien ts, such as diabetes, central venous catheter, and high serum ferritin levels were also evaluated. Nasal carriage of S. aureus was present i n 29.8% of patients (34/114). Six S. aureus bacteremia occured in 6 pa tients. This represents an annual incidence of 0.058 bacteremia/patien t-year. The incidence of bacteremia was higher in patients with S. aur eus nasal carriage (0.0945) than in patients without (0.0417), but the difference was not significant. The relative risk (RR) was 2.35. On t he contrary, bacteremia were significantly more frequent in patients w ith diabetes (RR = 11.41; p = 0.004) or in patients with central venou s catheter (RR = 14.29; p = 0.002). In conclusion, in our population, diabetes and central venous catheter are more significant risk factors of bacteriemia than S. aureus nasal carriage.